The invention relates to a system for securing a rail to a level solid ground, including a guide plate, for providing lateral support for the rail to be secured, a spring element supported on the guide plate and having at least one spring arm exerting an elastic retaining force on the base of the rail, and tensioning means for tensioning the spring element, a support angle being provided, which is connectable to the solid ground and which has a bearing surface against which the guide plate rests on the side facing away from the rail base. Such a system is known from WO 2007/082553 A1.
Solid ground, like base plates, concrete railroad sleepers or ties or the like, on which systems according to the invention are mounted is also referred to as “slab track systems”. Unlike a railway superstructure formed from loose ballast, they normally do not have any inherent compliance. Slab track systems are typically formed by concrete slabs, onto which sleepers also cast from concrete may be laid, which in turn support the rails.
Lateral support of the rails on such a solid ground is, as a rule, provided by means of support facilities positioned on both sides of the rail base between the rail base and respective stops which are each positioned at a lateral distance from the rail base. To this end, the stop is commonly moulded on to the respective solid ground in the form of a support shoulder or the like.
Thus, the concrete sleepers typically used for securing rails to a permanent railway include, as a rule, lateral stop shoulders against which the guide plates intended for laterally guiding the respective rail come to bear. These guide plates are directly fastened either to the solid ground or to the respective sleeper by means of suitable fastening elements, as a rule, screw-bolts. In practice, a system of this kind is known under the designation “System 300”.
Usually, the fastening elements are additionally used for tensioning a spring element which exerts a retaining force onto the rail base of the rail to be secured, which is oriented in the direction of the solid ground. Depending on the shape of the ground and the fastening means used, additional spacer and fastening means for a correct orientation and retention of the rails are required.
On railway surfaces which are formed to be level, i.e. do not provide any stop shoulders for laterally supporting the guide plates, fastening systems of the kind described above can not be used.
According to the state of the art disclosed in WO 2007/082553 A1 this problem has been solved in that a support angle is provided for the lateral support of the guide plate required in each case for laterally guiding the rail, which support angle may be bolted to the solid ground and has a bearing surface, against which the guide plate is supported on the side facing away from the rail base. In operation, the support angle will receive the transverse forces emanating from the rail and transmitted by the guide plate. Thus, the support angle enables a fastening system to be mounted on a level surface in a simple manner, without there having to be formed a special stop shoulder or the like. However, in practical use it turns out rather laborious to assemble the support angles which as a rule are made from a steel material.